y came to him in despair.

The management of this unmanageable child interested Sir Miles. It
caused him to think of Lucretia seriously; it caused him to have her
much in his society, and always in his thoughts. The result was, that by
amusing and occupying him, she forced a stronger hold on his affections
than she might have done had she been more like the ordinary run of
commonplace children. Of all dogs, there is no dog that so attaches a
master as a dog that snarls at everybody else,--that no other hand can
venture to pat with impunity; of all horses, there is none which so
flatters the rider, from Alexander downwards, as a horse that nobody
else can ride. Extend this principle to the human species, and you may
understand why Lucretia became so dear to Sir Miles St. John,--she got
at his heart through his vanity. For though, at times, her brow darkened
and her eye flashed even at his remonstrance, she was yet no sooner
in his society than she made a marked distinction between him and the
subordinates who had hitherto sought to control her. Was this affection?
He thought so. Alas! what parent can trace the workings of a child's
mind,--springs moved by an idle word from a nurse; a whispered
conference between hirelings. Was it possible that Lucretia had not
often been menaced, as the direst evil that could befall her, with her
uncle's displeasure; that long before she could be sensible of mere
worldly loss or profit, she was not impressed with a vague sense of Sir
Miles's power over her fate,--nay, when trampling, in childish wrath and
scorn, upon some menial's irritable feelings, was it possible that she
had not been told that, but for Sir Miles, she would be little better
than a servant herself? Be this as it may, all weakness is prone to
dissimulate; and rare and happy is the child whose feelings are as pure
and transparent as the fond parent deems them. There is something
in children, too, which seems like an instinctive deference to the
aristocratic appearances which sway the world. Sir Miles's stately
person, his imposing dress, the respect with which he was surrounded,
all tended to beget notions of superiority and power, to which it was no
shame to succumb, as it was to Miss Black, the governess, whom the
maids answered pertly, or Martha, the nurse, whom Miss Black snubbed if
Lucretia tore her frock.

Sir Miles's affection once won, his penetration not, perhaps, blinded
to her more evident faults, but his sel